The Witching Hour
by GeorgieSusoWasSuarez
Summary: The town of Leopards is full of ghosts. They roam about after ten and anyone who comes into contact with them is never seen again. So when young witch Lana keeps seeing a small ghost girl, is this a sign that she is the one destined to get the ghosts gone for good?


So my mother keeps having false alarms, thinking she's going into labour so I'm not allowed home and am stuck at my nans which gives me the PERFECT excuse to write.

(Also I deleted The Girl With The Converse Shoes because I couldn't be bothered finishing it plus everyone and their nan writes stories like that).

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To all the outsiders of the town, there seemed to be two different towns of Leopards.

The first one was cheerful and buzzing with life. Everyone was happy and milling about town, smiles on their faces. The sun would beat down and it would be the most beautiful place in the whole of Animal Crossing.

The second was dark, mysterious and lonely. No one went outside their house after ten. Those that did certainly never did it again. Because they were all taken away to never be seen again.

Only one person did that and lived.

Lobo, the blue wolf with the yellow eyes, would sit outside his house on his rocking chair, staring out into the sea mournfully. His house was faraway from anyone else's, so no one really went to see him. Everyone in town believed he was cursed after his run in with Them.

The only person who actually treated Lobo like a person was a fourteen year old girl called Lana.

Every morning at 11:00 AM, she would wander down to his house, bring him some food and water and listen to him prattle on about fishing and later on, he'd talk about his encounter with Them.

After a few weeks of this, Lobo had brought out an old bath mat for Lana to sit on whilst he would tell his stories. He cared for the girl like a daughter whilst loving her like a friend. She was the only one who would give him the time of day. But she was like that with everyone.

Lana knew she was different from everyone else in town.

She was the only one who talked to Crazy Lobo, she was the only one who wasn't afraid of sorcery (in fact, Lana had a secret ambition to be a witch when she was older) and she was the only one who was getting bored of Them.

Everyone else was terrified of Them or The Visitors as they were also called. They were the reason no one went out after ten and They were the reason that people disappeared when they did.

The truth was, Leopards was full of ghosts. The ghosts of the recently deceased and the ghosts of the past who still crawled around, looking for unsuspecting people to drag away into the night.

However, all ghosts, past or present, would roam around after ten, screaming through letter boxes, clawing at windows, throwing things around and destroying pieces of the town.

Whilst everyone would be hiding in bed, Lana would be sat up watching her Friends box set or Coronation Street or maybe even some Doctor Who if it was a Saturday.

Being so different, most people would expect Lana to be disliked. In fact, Lana was one of the most popular girls in Leopards. She was well-liked and a very kind person.

She had two best friends, Perrie and Ness. The three had bonded on the train due to the fact that all three had run away from home. They all travelled to Leopards together and the two would often stay at Lana's house.

Her house was near the beach and the spirits tended to stay away from areas like that.

At this moment in time, Lana is wandering up the path, thinking about what will happen in Doctor Who tonight.

Her long brown hair is flicking about in the wind whilst her picnic basket is swaying in the breeze.

She's wearing light blue denim shorts with a light pink top with dark pink flower designs. The white butterflies flittering along the path match her white canvas trainers.

Her eyes are a dark brown which look black from a distance. She's staring up at the sky, thinking dreamily about how gorgeous Matt Smith is.

Her pet Pug dog, Percival, is tottering along beside her, never leaving her side. He had a purple collar with black studs on it and a tag which was silver and in the shape of a heart.

Apparently Lana had forgotten when she bought the colour that Percival was a boy and that he was also not a goth.

"Haven't I told you to keep your head out of the clouds?" Lobo shouted over when Lana and Percival came into his view. "You'll fall into that bridge one day if you carry on day-dreaming about all those footballers you love!"

Lana knitted her eyebrows in frustration. Percival ran over to Lobo, barking happily, as the old wolf fed him some fish and made a massive fuss.

"I do wish you wouldn't give him pilchards. They stink and after he eats them, so does he!" Lana complained.

Lobo made definitely sure to only give Percival pilchards, just to spite Lana. He waved some in her face, making her move her head backwards to avoid them.

"Come sit, come sit." Lobo smiled, nodding towards the mat. "I have many more fishing stories to tell you-"

"Oh joy."

Lobo tapped her head sharply with his cane.

"I hadn't finished yet, you cretin. I was going to say I have many more fishing stories to tell you but first I want to ask how your witchin' is going!"

Lana loved talking about how she was going to be a witch. Lobo was the only one who knew, but he loved the supernatural so he wouldn't grass her up.

Witching was severely frowned upon in Animal Crossing and you could be disowned for practising witchcraft. If a crime occurred in a town that housed a witch, chances are everyone would decide the witch was guilty and she would be executed.

Lana knew that being a witch was risky but she wanted to be one so much. Especially after Granny Wells passed away.

Granny Wells had always told her stories of wonderful witches making life better. Her eyes would sparkle when she spoke of witchcraft, to the point where Lana believed with all her heart that Granny Wells was a witch herself.

The only things Granny really spoke about were witches, ghosts and horses. Granny had a massive horse farm. Lana had learned to ride horses there and still remembered the names of her favourites. Paddy The Plasterer, Mr Moonshine, Seabass, Tarquinius, Balthazar, Because I Couldn't See and Tea For Three.

Granny had passed away the year Lana ran away. It had actually been part of the reason Lana did run away from the country to Animal Crossing. The day Granny died, all the horses stood around watching all her belongings being taken away. Then the seven horses that were Lana's favourites, all bolted upright, leapt over the fence and ran away. No one ever saw them again.

Lana wished she could've been on one those horses, riding away, away from everything. Away from the bullying, away from the fact that Granny wasn't around anymore and away from her parents ignoring her.

Three weeks after Granny died, Lana ran away herself, knowing that she had to become a witch and help people like the witches in Granny's stories did.

"The witching isn't really going anywhere." Lana confessed to Lobo's question. "I'm not really sure what I'm meant to be doing, honestly."

"Harrumph." Lobo got up and hobbled into his house, walking stick by his side. Lobo only had one leg. He claimed that it was due to a fishing accident but had confessed to Lana that one of the ghosts made off with it.

"Here y'are. Learn yerself some spells and be a good witch, ok?" Lobo handed her a big brown leather bound book.

"Thank you Lobo." Lana smiled, genuinely, knowing that now she could get somewhere.

"That was my granny's. She was a witch but was executed for a crime she didn't commit." Lobo frowned sadly. "She told me one day a young girl would wander into my life when I'm a tired old man and that I should give her this. I believe my old granny was talking about you."

Lana smiled happily, clutching the book to her chest whilst Lobo told her about fishing.

She knew the basics of being a witch. It wasn't about magic spells like most people thought. Yes, magic was used but not like that. It was used in rituals and charms.

Being a witch was actually about seeing what was really there instead of what was supposed to be. Most people were blind to what was actually around them because their head was full of what they thought should be there.

When it grew dark, Percival began to whine. It was nine.

"I need to go!" Lana excused herself. Whilst she was bored of the spirits ruining everything, she didn't want to be outside when they appeared.

"Yep. Best get yourself home." Lobo nodded.

Lana hid the book in the picnic basket as Lobo dragged the mat indoors along with his chair. He locked the door behind him as Lana ran to Perrie's house.

Perrie's house was on the edge of the upper level which was quite a dangerous place as the ghosts seemed to enjoy pushing things -and sometimes people- off of there.

Perrie was a blonde, tanned girl who was mostly described as 'not the sharpest tool in the box - but still a kind girl'. Which was generally simplified to bimbo.

She had bright blue eyes and wore quite odd clothing. She always wore a bright red ribbon in her hair with a cupcake on it.

She wore a bright orange top with the words 'I 3 ME' in bright colourful letters. She had white and black striped leggings but they looked like they'd been splashed in paint of all colours - pink, green, yellow, blue, purple, orange.

And then there was Ness who was loud and outspoken. She had green eyes, black glasses and ginger hair which she always had in a beehive, secured by a black headband.

She had a blue top with a black skull, black leggings and white fluffy boots. She had big gold hoop earrings.

"Quick, Lana! It's nearly ten! Were you at that crazy guy's house again?" Ness shouted, hugging her the second she saw her. Ness was terrified of the spirits.

"He's not crazy. Lobo is really nice." Lana scowled as Perrie stroked Percival.

"Whatever, lets just get to yours." She shuddered as they ran, as quick as possible to Lana's house by the beach.

When they got in it was ten minutes to ten. All the doors were locked, windows secured and Ness even barricaded the door.

Then, surrounded by pillows, the four watched Doctor Who as the rampage went on outside. Huddled together, they prayed for it to be over as screams echoed around them.

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#Yeah so I turned Lobo into a crazy redneck. I'm not perfect what the hell do you want from me I personally believe he suits the redneck look#

There will be adventure in the next chapter this is just the intro. If it was boring, I'm sorry!

If you have any advice on ways to improve, review! I don't care if its harsh, as long as it helps me next chapter.

~JFT96~GBNF~

GeorgiexxxSuarez xxx


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